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Welcome to the NAG and SOPO newsletter for 1 May 2020. Feel free to circulate to your colleagues.
This newsletter is now delivered through our corporate service that handles all our various e-bulletins.
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Public Health England has published a PPE resource for care workers delivering homecare during the outbreak. This resource is primarily for care workers and providers delivering domiciliary care in visiting homecare, extra care housing and live-in homecare. This is very welcome and provides further guidance written specifically for the social care frontline services. There is also separate, previously published, general guidance for care homes.
We continue to press Government for an update on the PPE ‘Clipper’ system and for a confirmed operational date, which could be delayed for up to a month, to allow for councils and providers to plan accordingly. We are repeatedly stressing the impact of a disjointed PPE supply system on the safety of all frontline staff and residents who are receiving these services. Please let us know about local PPE issues, as it continues to strengthen our body of evidence for lobbying, via the coronavirus.enquiries@local.gov.uk email address.
Source PPE with Essex County Council’s Chinese Based Sourcing Service
Essex County Council is making its PPE sourcing service available free of charge to councils during the crisis. Essex is using its China office and 30-year relationship with Jiangsu Province to help councils identify suppliers, perform due diligence and liaise on prices and minimum quantity orders.
Essex along with another local council recently placed a large order for Type IIR masks which has arrived at the airport, passed an independent inspection, passed through China customs, and is about to be shipped to the UK.
Essex are offering this as a public health service – they are not charging any party fees or earning any commission so that they can impartially recommend the best solution for councils. They are already working with a number of other county councils and if you’re interested please get in touch with: peter.manning@essex.gov.uk.
Temporary Zero VAT on PPE
A new temporary zero VAT rate will be applied to supplies of PPE from 1 May to 31 July 2020, for businesses and individuals purchasing for protection from infection. This new temporary relief will apply to supplies of PPE as defined by Public Health England’s coronavirus (COVID-19) PPE guidance on 24 April 2020.
Catalogue of supplier offers
The Crown Commercial Service has launched a new catalogue of goods and services offered by suppliers to help the public sector fulfil their urgent requirements. We have been in daily contact with the Government and encouraged procurement teams across the country to engage with the creation this new portal.
The catalogue contains thousands of offers, ranging from cleaning services and food to video conferencing and transport, categorised by what is available now and in which region. The catalogue does not contain offers of PPE.
Contact CCS directly with any enquiries: info@crowncommercial.gov.uk.
Find and Tender - Public-sector procurement from 1 January 2021
Advance notice of changes to publishing procurement notices – councils will need to publish public procurement notices through Find a Tender. This service will go live on 1 January 2021. It will replace the requirement to publish notices in the Official Journal of the European Union.
If you use a third party ‘eSender’ to manage your procurement notices, you will be able to continue to use them provided that they have confirmed they can publish notices to Find a Tender.
Options for councils in supporting leisure providers through COVID-19
This advice note aims to update councils on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on leisure providers operating services and facilities owned and delivered on behalf of councils. It includes options as well as examples of how councils are providing practical support to providers and ensuring facilities are in a position to reopen when social distancing measures are relaxed.
LGA Guidance: working with children’s services providers during COVID-19
This guidance note is for local authority commissioners of children’s social care and education placements. It is designed to summarise pressures on providers arising from COVID-19, and to put forward ways in which commissioners and providers can work together to alleviate these pressures. It also outlines support available to council commissioners during the outbreak.
This is a live document, so we will be updating it as the situation progresses – please do keep feeding in any issues coming up, and anything that would be helpful for us to add or amend as things change.
LGA frequently asked questions related to COVID-19
The LGA has set up a dedicated COVID-19 FAQ page which is updated daily and has a Procurement Section. It also covers other areas so please feel free to pass on the link to colleagues across your organisations. Contact CoronaVirus.Enquiries@local.gov.uk with an COVID-19 issues.
Webinars/e-Learning
Buying Digital Community virtual meet-up
From 19-22 May we’re taking the Buying Digital Community meet-up online to bring you a daily hour-long session at 10am. Each session will be led by a guest speaker and explore a range of topics designed to support you at this challenging time.
- Tuesday 19 May: Making the most of commercial during the coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Wednesday 20 May: Unleashing the quiet power of introverts
- Thursday 21 May: Understanding the latest IR35 update and its implications on digital procurement
- Friday 22 May: Engaging with SMEs during COVID-19 - a supplier’s view
Please find the full details of the Buying Digital Community virtual meet-up on Eventbrite.
Free contract management e-learning course
For those of you not involved in front line service delivery and currently being asked to work from home, you might now find some time for some continuing professional development. We negotiated a number of places on the Government Commercial Function’s Building contract and supplier management capability across government contract management e-learning modules. Please get in touch if you or your colleagues are interested to join them on: productivity@local.gov.uk.
Effective E-Procurement in the Public Sector - 25 May 2020
Risk Management in Public Procurement - 29 May 2020
Procure to Pay Process Optimisation - Reducing Costs - 9 June 2020
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